Important To Me
by Scarlet Pikachu
Summary: Sometimes we get so wrapped up in ourselves and our selfish desires we forget about one another. Oneshot.


Sometimes all we really need is something to remind us just how important another person is to us, sometimes we get so wrapped up in our own problems we forget one other. But the love and affection we share, be it friendly, romantic, or blood, the relationship is almost always worth the effort.

* * *

"Yeah, finally, we've got them!" Shifty laughed, his paws scooping the gems up and shoving them into two separate sacks, evenly dividing them, or at least, as evenly as Shifty's greed would let him.

Lifty nodded and reached out, he took his sack, draped it over his shoulder and then suddenly, they both gasped as the alarm went off. Eyes scanning about, they suddenly realized that Shifty's tail had set off one of the motion detecting lasers.

"Let's go, move your tail!" Shifty shouted, shoving his twin roughly and making Lifty drop the bag. The gems didn't spill, but grabbing the bag still took precious seconds as the alarm sounded, if they were caught . . ._No, don't think like that right now!_ Lifty told himself as he raced after his brother, said coon had a good head start and was already rounding the corner of the bank as Lifty started running. "I'll see you when we get back to the house, okay, bro?" Shifty shouted over the alarms.

"Oh, okay, Shifty!" He replied, still lagging. The alarms screeched loudly against his ears as he fought to seek the nearest exit, why was he so slow? Knowing Shifty, the male had probably taken more than half of the gems for himself, yet Shifty had ran faster than Lifty could even if he wasn't carrying anything at all. _Well, he does tend to carry more out of greed, maybe that's how he got so strong._

Finally he found an escape, he ran out the door and instantly cursed as he gazed up at a dark lightning-lit sky. The rain pelted his ears, making him shake his head as he set off, running down alleys and wishing he was not alone. He felt his soggy feet cry in protest suddenly, he yelped, falling over and trying to catch his fall only for him to loose his hold on his sack, this time is spilled, the gemstones scattering before him and slipping through the storm drain. "No!" He cried, scrabbling after them, one by one the shiny jewels fell through the gaps of the storm drain. His paws finally closed around a single gemstone, larger than the others and as green as could be, it wasn't like the others, not really a gemstone, but instead more of an ornamental one, either way it looked like it was worth something.

The round piece of jade clutched between his paws, Lifty glanced down and breathed in deeply. "No wonder I fell." He murmured, a piece of glass was lodged into his right heel and he wondered if he had been too cold or just too scared to notice it. He reached down hesitantly and eased the glass out of his foot, a few tears escaping his eyes as he pried it free, he glanced around, but there was nothing to use as a bandage, the blood flowed freely, mixing with the rain water and turning it a dirty brown.

He breathed deeply, organizing his thoughts before determination set in and he stood, limping slightly from the pain, the jade was tightly clutched in his left paw. "At this rate I would be better off seeking some sort of shelter than rushing home." He told himself. "But where can I seek refuge in around here?"

Weary from the pain and blood loss, he felt his thoughts muddle a bit, he continued onward, the occasional bolt of lightning the only other illumination aside from the dim streetlights. "Damnit, I just know Shifty's at home counting the loot, probably even drooling over his half of the reward, meanwhile. . . " Lifty swayed, his foot slipping in a muddy puddle, he fell face forward, groaning, feeling like all the energy was leaving his body. But his odd little stone lay only a few feet in front of him, he smiled softly. "I'm not going to come out of this empty-pawed this time. I'll die with this in my paws before I'll give up."

He crawled forward, and was startled to find out that where the stone had rolled was beneath a small eave, giving him just enough shelter from the pounding rain to make him smile slightly before he curled up and passed out, the stone clutched tightly against his chest.

00000000000

Shifty ran through the streets, his eyes wide. "Damnit! How could I be so stupid, what if he got killed? Aw, no, I can't believe I let my own selfish urges override my concern for my little brother, I'm so selfish!" He exclaimed, he reached up, pulling his fedora down over his face more, trying to think of where his brother could have gotten to, he wasn't anywhere near home, so did that mean he had gotten caught?

_This is all my fault, I should've waited for him, this is not a good time for him to be outside!_ He ran off, suddenly remembering an old abandoned alley, hopefully Lifty was there.

It was about five minutes later when Shifty came to the alley. "I don't see him. . . " He glanced around, walking along the alley and looking for a trace of his brother. "Lifty?" He called.

A faint movement caught his eye, someone green-furry, a raccoon, "Lifty!" The older twin exclaimed as he ran up to his trembling kin.

Lifty opened his eye a little bit. "Shift . . .?"

"Oh, lord, what happened, why didn't you come home?" the male asked, Lifty shivered and tried to keep his teeth from chattering as he moved his bushy tail, showing his injured foot.

"Oh, Lifty, that looks really bad, can you stand?"

Lifty shivered a bit more and shook his head. ". . . I feel . . . weak, bro."

Shifty sighed, he hadn't tried this in a long time, but he hoped it would be easy enough. "Okay, Lift, I'm going to try and pick you up, okay?"

The young male opened his eyes a bit more, he nodded weakly.

"Okay, here goes everything." He declared as he picked Lifty up and then moved Lifty's head so it was resting on his shoulder. _He's actually not too heavy, man, he doesn't look good._

It took a long time to get back, but finally Shifty arrived at the door of their house, wasting no time he kicked the door in and laid Lifty down on a bed. Said raccoon didn't even stir when he was set down, his eyes were shut and he almost seemed dead, but his chest was rising and falling. Wringing the excess water out of his fedora, Shifty sighed softly to himself.

"Okay, I'll get some washrags, some disinfectant and some bandages and start on his foot, then I'll try and figure out what else is wrong with him." Shifty told himself as he ran off, tearing through the house and trying his hardest to find some medical supplies among the poorly furbished place they dwelled in. He barely found the supplies, finally tearing one of the faded white curtains into strips to use in place of bandages.

"Okay, lets see, I'll just clean as much dirt off as I ca and then use some disinfectant. . . " He began cleaning Lifty's foot, making the younger raccoon groan in pain.

"Easy bro, the worst part is next,"

As he poured some disinfectant onto another rag, he winced, knowing what was about to happen, a deep breath and then he pressed the cloth against the open wound.

Lifty bolted upright, screaming bloody murder, after his throat was hoarse he fell back, collapsing in exhaustion. ". . . that hurt . . ." He whimpered.

Wrapping the makeshift bandages around the male's foot, Shifty nodded, "Yeah, I know, are you alright, bro?"

Lifty nodded and then realized he was still clutching something, he opened his paw and saw it was the green stone. "Heh, it's still here, funny."

"What's that, Lift?"

"Well, I lost all of the loot, but this."

"You lost it all too?" Shifty asked in shock.

"Too? You mean you don't have your half?"

"No, I lost it all on the way here, there was a hole in my bag from when I snagged it on a nail in my haste, so, what is that?"

Lifty sat up, holding a paw to his head, he suddenly realized his foot wasn't hurting so badly, in fact it was bandaged up. "You," he began, glancing around and recognizing the bland interior of their home. "brought me here and bandaged me up?"

Shifty nodded his eyes still fixed upon the round piece of jade. "Yeah, now tell me, what _is_ that?"

Lifty's eyes filled with tears at the happiness he suddenly felt. His brother had actually came after him, Shifty had actually saved him from dying outside, the wound mixed with the cold would have certainly killed him if it hadn't have been for his wonderful twin! He pushed the stone towards Shifty, "I don't know, but it's yours now."

Shock filled Shifty's eyes, his brother was giving_ him_ the only thing he still had from their robbery? "Lifty, are you sure?"

Lifty nodded, his eyes full of kindness, "Sure I'm sure, bro, you saved my life, this is the least I can do to repay you for it-"

Shifty hugged his brother tightly, "Thank you, Lifty, thank you! I don't know what this is, but it's very pretty and I'm sure its worth something. . . " he paused, "but I'm not going to sell it."

"What?" Lifty exclaimed, staring at his twin with the look one has when they think you've gone completely crazy. "Why not?"

"Well, I really like it, and it's like a trinket, this way I can have it to remind me."

"Remind you of what?"

"To remind me of just how important you are to me and that I shouldn't be so hard on you so much." He replied, hugging Lifty tightly.

* * *

There, this was written a few days ago. Hee hee! Look, look, look, without even thinking up a very detailed plot, I wrote an adorable oneshot in no time flat too! I wanted a sweet little oneshot, and since I felt rather whimsical, I made this, enjoy, you guys, I hope you like this!


End file.
